Wednesday, August 6, 2014

This past weekend I went back to place flowers on Mom's grave and to do a few other things so I drove back to this spot to relive the event and her storytelling of it.

Dad's 95th birthday was Friday, 20 July 2012. I was back to make my monthly visit to Mom and went to the Herscher Historical Society Museum. While there I met a lady from the newly formed Bonfield Historical Society (which I joined) and I talked some about our roots in Bonfield. The first home my parents lived in was in Bonfield. I told one story from 1937 (one of many that Mom passed on while driving in and around Kankakee together over the years). The Arnold family was living on the Taylor farm just NE of Bonfield. When Mom and Dad were dating (she was 17 and he 19 or 20) he would roar through Bonfield, drop her off and then go SE a few miles home to the Miller farm. This night the town cops waited for him just south of town near Stone Creek by blocking off the road with their cars. He usually dropped her off about the same time every Saturday night. Dad always drove a big GM car to go along with his heavy right foot! He saw the roadblock, went down into the east side ditch and waved at them with one finger as he went by. His words are censored and therefore ommitted from this blog. He swung up and got back on the road to roar through town, stopped at Arnolds, said goodnight, spun his tires and headed towards home! With the cops in pursuit! The three cars made a lot of noise approaching the Miller house with a very long lane and his Dad came out with his shotgun loaded. When his son told him what was going on Grandpa fired off two rounds into the air! The cops turned around and went back to Bonfield. I still remember how Mom told this story in much greater detail many years ago. She said it was an exciting time! So I went back to the spot and took this picture. Happy Birthday Dad!

Great-Grandma Arthur

This is my Great-Grandmother Nan Woodall Arthur. (Some Somerset, KY Woodall's also came to Limestone Township, Kankakee, IL and Helen Woodall married a good friend of mine, Jerome Giroux. Sadly, she passed away a few months ago). Everyone still refers to her as "Maw" and her husband as "Paw". I think the boy is Lucian Arthur, a boy raised by John and Nan Arthur that he may have fathered. There aren't many pictures of Nan and this is the first time I've seen this one. Aunt Dora and Aunt Dorthy have loaned me some oldies and goodies to copy. She was a hard working woman with a bunch of kids. They lived in a house that was a log cabin that had been added on to over the years. Mom, her Aunt Lola and I went in the log cabin back about 71. It was then being used as a corn crib for unshelled corn. Lola gave me a very old enameled coffee pot and some other stuff that was waiting to be taken to the metal scrapyard and my son Dennis has them now. Someone said the cabin had been moved to a Kentucky state park but Mom's cousin Christine (who now lives on the home place) said she thought it had been sold for lumber. Maw died and he later married Celia Dugger in 1938, he was 64 and she 19. I bought several of her handmade quilts in 2003 and 4. She died Jan 15, 2010 at 91 years of age as my great-grandma!

Pictured are Mom's first cousins, Cleo Arnold (17) and her sister Etta (12) daughters of Ernst (Big Boy) Arnold. Cleo is in bad shape with heart problems at the age of 89. Her daughter, Tondalayo said today she doesn't expect her to make it and has asked everyone to pray for her. Sorry to hear that.